Song of Solomon, 4
1. LOVER: How beautiful you are, my beloved, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are doves, behind your veil; your hair is like a flock of goats surging down Mount Gilead.
1. Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats, moving down the slopes of Gilead.
2. Your teeth, a flock of sheep to be shorn when they come up from the washing. Each one has its twin, not one unpaired with another.
2. Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them is bereaved.
3. Your lips are a scarlet thread and your words enchanting. Your cheeks, behind your veil, are halves of pomegranate.
3. Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.
4. Your neck is the Tower of David built on layers, hung round with a thousand bucklers, and each the shield of a hero.
4. Your neck is like the tower of David, built for an arsenal, whereon hang a thousand bucklers, all of them shields of warriors.
5. Your two breasts are two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies.
5. Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies.
6. Before the day-breeze rises, before the shadows flee, I shall go to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense.
6. Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will hie me to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.
7. You are wholly beautiful, my beloved, and without a blemish.
7. You are all fair, my love; there is no flaw in you.
8. Come from Lebanon, my promised bride, come from Lebanon, come on your way. Look down from the heights of Amanus, from the crests of Senir and Hermon, the haunt of lions, the mountains of leopards.
8. Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the peak of Ama'na, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.
9. You ravish my heart, my sister, my promised bride, you ravish my heart with a single one of your glances, with a single link of your necklace.
9. You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride, you have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.
10. What spells lie in your love, my sister, my promised bride! How delicious is your love, more delicious than wine! How fragrant your perfumes, more fragrant than all spices!
10. How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride! how much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!
11. Your lips, my promised bride, distil wild honey. Honey and milk are under your tongue; and the scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon.
11. Your lips distil nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue; the scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon.
12. She is a garden enclosed, my sister, my promised bride; a garden enclosed, a sealed fountain.
12. A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a garden locked, a fountain sealed.
13. Your shoots form an orchard of pomegranate trees, bearing most exquisite fruit:
13. Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard,
14. nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all the incense-bearing trees; myrrh and aloes, with the subtlest odours.
14. nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices --
15. Fountain of the garden, well of living water, streams flowing down from Lebanon!
15. a garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from Lebanon.
16. BELOVED: Awake, north wind, come, wind of the south! Breathe over my garden, to spread its sweet smell around. Let my love come into his garden, let him taste its most exquisite fruits.
16. Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its fragrance be wafted abroad. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits.
